Red Carpet Poem by Pascal Umekwe

You fertilized my mind with many options
Because of you my heart sprouted a thousand possibilities
You ushered me into a world where the unattainable was dead
With you a trip through the jungle was a joyful promenade
With you all things felt new, felt reachable, felt possible
And for your sweet feet I rolled out my life like a red carpet
…
Now I must roll it in again
And find a path amidst the cadavers of dead possibilities
You stretched my heart like goatskin drums in the sun
And I gushed forth with music
I stood radiant in the colors you fitted in my wings
Ready for a flight like the shuttle of a world power
Now my horizon has closed over me
The sun no more shines upon me like a leading star
I still am strapped like a keen explorer
Staff in hand, stout shoes, but without a destination